Maine Valley GC to go ahead
THE formation of the new Maine Valley Members Golf Club is now certain to go ahead, according to Jimmy Foley, a member of the organising committee.
Talks have been ongoing for weeks between representatives of the former Castleisland and Killorglin clubs both of which shut down in recent times, and prospective members interested in joining the new club based at the former Killorglin course, were asked to have a €100 paid by May 1st .
Formation of the new club was dependent on how many actually came up with the money and speaking to The Kerryman over the weekend, Jimmy said: “Things are looking very bright for us and we have been very encouraged by the huge support, so we are in a strong position and are going ahead with the amalgamation of Castleisland and Killorglin and the formation of our new club”.
The new club have secured the former Killorglin golf course from its owner Billy Dodd, on a very reasonable lease, and a number of volunteers have been maintaining the course for the past number of weeks so that it will be ready for play when the new club opens.
Something in the region of 250 people have signed up and paid the deposit to join and some good news for the committee is that they will not now have to seek affiliation.
Jimmy takes up the story: “We have been advised by the governing bodies that all we need to do really, is to change the name of Killorglin Golf Club to Maine Valley Members Golf Club. It’s already affiliated, the course and the facilities are already there, so that is going to save us a whole lot of time and a lot of money as well. It could have taken between six to eight weeks we’ve been told, to get affiliation, which would have cost over five and a half thousand euro, so we’re all quite happy to run with the name change instead and we’re looking forward to getting the new club up and running very soon”.
This is indeed great news for those proposing to join and although May 18th when the courses open again, may be too soon, especially for those outside the 5Km radius, it won’t be long before Maine Valley Members Club will become part of the Kerry golfing family and being able to combine the playing assets of the two former clubs, they may well be a force to be reckoned with in various teams events going forward and I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing them the very best.